Infrared (IR) communication is ubiquitous in the world of television device control. A popular means to control devices with universal remotes involves the use of the signal record and replay technique. This technique is not concerned with the underlying protocol but rather the storage and retransmission of a collection of signal samples. It is simple and effective but has a number of shortcomings.
The record and replay technique of providing IR device control suffers from two significant shortcomings. The first is its inability to programmatically detect signal errors. When an IR packet is recorded with a universal remote its validity must be manually verified by the individual through playback and observation. The second issue is scalability. The process of recording and storing device functions must be performed for each device and each function. This results in the storage of large collections of device and function sample sets.